What to Do Before Rooting Your Android

Are you sick and tired of the restrictions your phone manufacturer has set up for your phone and you want to set it free? Rooting your phone can be an option. However, before rooting your Android device you should know that rooting is a risky business, and you could end up with a bricked phone. But if you do the necessary research, and you check, double-check and even triple-check everything, you should be okay.

Before you go through with rooting your Android device, there are some things you need to know so that if anything were to go wrong, you are more than prepared.

1. Remember to Back Up Your Files

Backing up everything you have on your phone is extremely important. Like I said before rooting is risky business, especially if this is your first time rooting. Something could go wrong, and you might need to wipe your phone clean, but that shouldn’t be a problem if you backed everything up since you can easily re-install everything.

2. Make Sure You Have Enough Battery Power

Since rooting your Android device can take a while, the last thing you want is a low battery, so make sure you have a fully-charged battery. You may see others recommend at least a 75% battery, but I recommend a full 100%. It’s better to be safe than sorry.

3. Know Your Phone’s Information Before Rooting

I know this is going to sound obvious, but sometimes it’s the obvious things that we miss. Before rooting you are going to need to know your device’s name, your carrier, model number, Android version, kernel number, and build number. Why is it important to know this? Knowing this is important because this is going to determine which rooting method is the right one for your Android device. If you follow the wrong guide, you could end up bricking your phone and have a very expensive paperweight.

4. Learn How to Get Into Stock Android Recovery

Learning how to get into Android Recovery is not hard at all; you should be able to get into it with a few button combinations such as pressing the power key, Volume+ and home button simultaneously (for Samsung Galaxy smartphones). This is something you should learn before rooting your device just in case something goes wrong, and you need to wipe your phone.

5. Learn How to Restore Your Smartphone’s Firmware

It is important to learn how to restore your Android phone’s firmware because if something were to go wrong, you always have the option to go back to how you were before. You can restore your phone’s firmware with software such as Odin for Samsung or LG Flash Tool for LG devices. The software is obviously going to depend on what phone you have, so make sure you have this on your computer before you root your Android device.

Remember to download the right firmware for your specific smartphone. Sometimes the firmware is specific to a device and even a build number.

6. Download the Necessary Drivers for Your Android

If you don’t install the right drivers for your Android device, the rooting process is not going to work since the computer needs these drivers to communicate with your Android device. You can download the drivers from the manufacturer’s official website, and don’t forget to turn on USB Debugging as well.

7. Read the Comments of the Rooting Method You Are Going to Use

It is always better to learn from someone else’s mistakes, right? So when you think that you have found the rooting method for you, read the comments below it. This way you will be aware of the typical rooting problems the users with your exact phone have gone through, and you will know how to fix it if you were ever to encounter them.

Conclusion

Rooting your Android device is risky business, and if you are not careful, you can damage your device. The key word here is research, and if you do enough of it, you will certainly have the confidence to root your Android device easily. Don’t forget to give the post a share, and let us know why you decided to root your Android device in the comments.

10 comments

I’m afraid pressing the power key, Volume+ and home button simultaneously did not get me into Android Recovery mode on my Samsung S4, Model number GT-i9500, running Android version 5.0.1 :-(

I would dearly love to get my phone rooted, just to get rid of all the apps that I would never use. And I was hoping this article might point me in the right direction. It hasn’t helped much seeing as pressing the power key, Volume+ and home button simultaneously did not get me into Android Recovery mode. But at least it reminded me to take note of all the current settings and back up all my data :-)

Sheri, Make sure you hold all three buttons down until your S4 vibrates. This could take anywhere from five to ten seconds, but it will put your device in recovery mode,. Remember use your vol + and vol – to move up and down, when you have choice highlighted, use power button to select. When I rooted my S4 I had to flash an earlier ROM root it, then flash my original ROM back. Odin worked like a charm. Very user friendly.

Rooting is very important because you can customized and install any apps and super access unlike the normal android. For rooting tool i would strongly recommend to use search4roots because it’s safe and reliable.

I have a question. My phone is a SAMSUNG Note 4. I got it from AT&T – so of course it is locked to them, to make sure I don’t run to Verizon. They refuse to unlock it – I tried. Is it possible to root it, when it is locked to a carrier? (Android 6.0.1)

@Heinz: The ability to root is unrelated to the ability to unlock the phone. Rooting depends on being able to access and change things at the root of the device, like autoexex.bat and config.sys of old. So the answer is maybe, maybe not. Some of the newer Samsung devices have locked bootloaders, which makes them harder to root. Root has tremendous advantages and is well worth learning about if you’ve never done it. Although Judy Sahnz here is of very good help and has very good advice, I strongly recommend you visit xda-developers.com, THE seminal site when it comes to customizing and acquiring full control of your device.

Remember that rooting gives you great power and with great power comes great responsibility: it’s